- My viral TikTok got me a record deal,
and this is that story.
My name is Lyn Lapid, and this all started
in the summer of 2019.
I was 16.
I really loved music,
and I was just kind of casually putting covers on YouTube
and some Conan Gray songs,
just very bedroom pop.
Nobody really saw them.
It took me eight months to get to 100 subscribers.
Then, I started posting on TikTok and Instagram,
and that's when things started to really pick up.
Within a few months, I had reached 10,000 followers
on Instagram.
Then one day, my dad was messaged by a producer.
He said that he was this big, well-known producer
that's worked with a lot of big artists.
We started talking.
He was a lot more pop, upbeat, groovy, I guess.
But, that's not my vibe,
so I just thought we didn't click that way.
I was expressing that I didn't want to work with him,
and I think he got a bit defensive,
and was starting to tell me that I wouldn't make it
in the industry if I didn't follow his advice.
I was, like, really sad for a couple days.
I was looking at my own music,
and I thought that none of it was good enough.
I started to question would it be silly of me
to even consider trying to go into the music industry
if this guy who's worked with so many successful artists
tells me that I wouldn't make it if I try to do it my way?
Then, an idea came to me.
I started to imagine, like a world, a reality
where I followed his advice
and I did get big and famous like he said.
I realized that I would be unhappy.
And so, I made a story out of it
and I made it into a song.
♪ She was only 17 when producer man came offering ♪
♪ That all her dreams ♪
♪ Would come true ♪
As soon as I finished the first verse,
I posted it to TikTok the very same day.
And it blew up,
and my account was growing like crazy.
I was getting like 10,000 followers
every couple of hours.
So then, Republic Records reached out to me.
At the time, I didn't really know what Republic was.
And, I Googled them.
I was like oh my gosh, Ariana Grande's under them,
and so is Taylor Swift, the Weeknd,
all these big artists.
I was hesitant to talk to any labels at all
because of my experience with producer man.
It took a lot of time to, you know, trust.
So, I was connected with this producer,
and I found out that he was Conan Gray's producer,
and started working out different versions of producer man.
♪ What she couldn't see ♪
♪ Was he was in it for the money ♪
♪ Oh, oh ♪
♪ Money ♪
♪ Oh, oh, money ♪
I released "Producer Man" on Spotify.
12 days after it releasing it,
it got to 1,000,000 streams.
I just wanted to thank everybody who supported me
and gave me words of encouragement.
And if the real producer man is watching right now,
I'd like to thank you.
I think, without you telling me that I wouldn't make it,
then I probably wouldn't be here right now.
(uplifting music)